492 £fc* J&pirit of th* 2£xmes,
2,
(called the " Fice," better known here as the "sooner dog"),
aad the next thing we knew tbe little dog was tied to the
tree. " Why, do you mean to leave the poor little dog oat
here all night ? If you had Mr. Bergh here he would hare
you up for cruelty to animals." After having treed three
more we returned home, and at five in the morning he had
us out again. " What's to be done now 1"
'* We'll go in the woods to shoot the 'coons out of the
trees."
So I shouldered my double-barrelled shot-gun and he his
long rifie. The first halt we made was under the tree to
which tbe dog was tied, and sure enough, perched on a pro-
J acting limb, was a large 'coon. I fired the first shot at
lim with my guu, but the shotbeing too small it took no
effect, and the old man brought him down with his rifle.
We picked up our game and marched off, and soon I spied a
tree with a piece of carpet tied around iM trunk, and there
we got another Hue fellow. So we made our rounds until
we got all the poor thiugs that had been treed the previous
night, iu all amounting to seven. The next two days we
spent at the house in healing up the wounds of our muti-
lated face and bruised hands, before returning to the city.
Now, Mr. Editor, if you or any of your city readers think
it is fine sport to go 'coon-hunting at night, you can go, and
please count me out, for that night's experience has satisfied
me. Very respectfully, L. K.
LONG-DISTANCE RACING.
DEAR S P I R I T : In recent issues of your valuable and
interesting paper I notice two well-written articles over the
signature of " 1. E. W.," and headed " The Alleged Deter-
ioration of Horses."
It is as to some of the statements contained in the first of
these articles that I propose to say a few words. But as " I.
E. W." begins by saying that " there is a certain class of old
sportsmen who persist in bewailing the deterioration of the
horse—the same, .indeed, who will play nothing but long
whist," etc., and intimates that it la useless to argue with
such persons, I must premise the few words which I have to
write by saying that I am neither an old sportsman nor an
old man; that I neither play long whist, nor short whist
very well; in short, that I belong to that younger generation
for whose benefit he intimates that he writes the article under
consideration.
Having now acquired (as far as I can by my own assertion)
a locus standi, I propose to take issue with "I. E. W." in at
least one proposition laid down by him just as if it were a
self-evident truth, viz., that four-mile-heat racing is a bar-
barous sport.
I assert with equal confidence that it?is not a barbarous
sport, and propose to offer a few arguments to support my
assertion. In the first place, when four-mile heats were in
vogue it was a common thing to see a horse who had con-
tended in many a hard-fought contest of four-mile heats-
training on and running until he was nine or ten years of
age, or even older. Thus it seems that four-mile-heat
racing did not break them down at an early age.
Boston was nine years old at the time he ran his great
race with Fashion, when she beat him in the then unprece-
dented time of 7:32. And Fashion ran a four-mile-heat race
with Peytona at the age of eleven years.
I think I remember to have seen an article in your valua-
ble paper, written by the Hon. Bailey Peyton, in which he
stated that he saw old Walk-in-the-Water run a race of four-
mile heats at the advanced age of seventeen years.
In the second place, the fact that those horses that have
repeatedly run four-mile heats with success live usually to
an advanced age, is, I think, while not conclusive, at least
persuasive of the fact that four-mile-heat racing is not bar-
barous.
In the third place, it is an undoubted fact that in this
country those horses who have run four-mile heats repeat-
edly are the most successful sires, which proves that four-
mile-heat racing did not impair their constitutions in such a
degree as to prevent their imparting their high qualities to
their progeny.
In fact, we have no native horses distinguished as sires
who have not run four miles successfully. Now, I would
ask " L E W." how he arrives at the conclusion that races
ef four-mile heats are barbarous ? Do they break down any
sooner than those horses that are run shorter distances ? Do
they live any shorter time? Do they impart to their off-
spring less vigor than other horses not run so far ?
I would be glad if " I. E. W." would tell us who dis-
covered that races of four-mile heats were barbarous, and
where aud when it was discovered.
Does it not strike " I . E. W." as a little inconsistent that
the same school of horsemen who raise such an outcry against
races of four-mile heats should be the advocates of steeple-
chasing as practiced in England, where, as he states, homes
are run over a course four and three-quarter miles loDg, a
large distance over ploughed ground, and over forty fences
none of which are under four feet six inches high ?
In all candor, pray tell us why running four miles on a
smooth track, with no ploughed ground and no fences, is
more barbarous than running four and three-quarter mile?
over such a course as " I . E. W." describes the Grand Na-
tional Steeplechase course at Liverpool to be.
Now, I contend that the breeding and running of the race-
horse is not only an amusement, but that it does incal-
culable good by improving the common stock of horses
when crossed upon them.
Now, the quality which the thoroughbred possesses in a
preeminent degree, and for which he is most valuable, is his
ability to go a long distance at a high rate of speed, and
stamina enough to repeat the performance within a very
short time. His chief value in improving the common
horse Is liia ability lo impart his endurance, bia speed, and
his soundness of wind and limb.
Now, 1 submit that, if horses are not run long distance?
and made to repeat after a short interval, in such a way as
not only to test their speed, but also their endurance, it
is utterly impossible for the breeder to know how to breed
no as to preserve these qualities.
It is very true that onr thoroughbreds have improved
wonderfully in the last fifty or sixty years ; hut this fact is
pregnant with significance that thia improvement has taken
place under the tyttiem of long distant* heat-race*.
With these few hasty remarks I leave the subject, hoping
that some one who is older and more experienced, and has
therefore seen the improvement derived by our racing stock
JAW.
from the long-distance system, will urge the importance of when hunting the plains of the Far West. The plains, most
reestablishing heat races, and utter an eloquent protest decidedly, are the places of all others for a widely ranging
against the tendency of the present management ef most of setter or pointer, and in all my life I never saw such easy
our prominent racecourses, which seems to be calculated to ground to be ranged over, no flints to cut the feet, no bram-
degenerate our thoroughbreds Into " quarter-horsee." bles to scratch the ears, and not a thorn in the grass of the
Tours, etc., D. S. L. unlimited plains to be met with, while the herbage itself is
less thick or severe than the herbage of the English
meadows.
ON THE BREAKING OF DOGS. I have at the time of writing a young retriever,which was
There is no subject connected with sporting on which given me by Mr. Cavendish Bentinck; he called her Moon-
more ignorance is displayed by masters and men than this. shine, but I have taken the shine not out of her, but from
A vulgar idea predominates, and it is that whips, sticks, her, as dogs intended for obedient action cannot have too
kicks, and cuffs are the first rudiments of a dog's education, short a name, so her name now is Moon.
couplad with fetching and carrying any dead substance that
is e s t on land or water.
She walks at my heels when I feed my feathered game of
all kinds, and sees me throw down bits of bread cut from
To hold up a hand and say '• down" to a dog, when noth-J the loaf at breakfast and carried in my pocket. At first
ing has occurred to render his crouching necessary, only she picked a bit up, but on her doing so received a mild but
puts before the wiser brain of the dog the folly of a master yet seriously expressed—which is the chief thing—rebuke,
who ought never to ask his dog to do anything that an evi- contained in a sign and by the words "No, no." She has
dent necessity did not require. never since offered to pick up a crumb. So the other day,
To take a dog out walking, and let him see bis master being much pleased with her conduct, I gave her a piece of
hide his glove in a bush, for which the dog was to be sent bread on my way home, which I intended her to eat as a mark
back after proceeding some distance; that, too, Is mere of my approbation.
childishness, and has nothing whatever to do with " break- She took it from my hand in the most gentle way, and
ing." having forgotten all about it, on my arrival at home, on
To throw sticks into the water, and send the dog to fetch standing still she walked about me with an honest, proud,
them out, or throw sticks for him to bring back on land, are conscientious look, and though I could not at the moment
acts similarly ridiculous,with this addition: Hard dead sub- see what it was, I became certain she had something in
stances, if resorted to, tend to make a dog's mouth hard ; a her mouth of which she was proud, and wished me to be
retriever should touch nothing that was not or had not been aware.
recently alive. The dear thing did not know that I had given her the mor-
A dog should be taught to fetch nothing unless his mas- sel of bread to eat. I had told her some days before not to
ter could not find it, and had called on the dog to retrieve eat the bread, so she thought it was assigned her to carry
a loss which, without the dog's aid, the master must suffer. home, and obeyed to the very letter of the conception. On
The canine sagacity is so boundless, and the comprehension my assuring her she might eat it the crumb at once disap-
of a motive so keen, that in time a dog will think for his peared. In dealing with a dog possessed of such a temper as
master, and know better how to obtain some ends that his Moon's, example- is the best breaking. Moon and other
master desires than the master himself. dogs need but to understand their master's wish, and they
In "breaking" a young retriever, at first his eager and will obey it. Harshness, haste, and blows would mar it all.
puppyish liabilities should be pardoned, until gentleness, Moon, sensible as she is, has, however, in her breaking
steadiness,and method had set all points of duty thoroughly the most difficult faults of all to obviate. Nothing will in-
before him, and caresses and favors, not harsh words and duce her to take the water, nor will she mouth a duck or
blowB, had taught him which of his acts best pleased the snipe if left for a time to grow cold. With water fowl,
human and humane instructor, and brought to his sensitive woodcock, or snipe I have seen this in other dogs, and as it
head and heart the greatest gratulation of the being whom, arises from a peculiar taste or distaste it has the chance to
above all, he was most attached to and desirous of pleasing. be persisted in when the dog is out of sight.—GANTLET F.
The dog should be brought gradually to know right from BERKELEY, in Sporting Gazette.
wrong, and never to receive the semblance of a harsh word
or a blow until he was well aware of the fault he had com-
mitted. Then if the fault was flagrant one blow was suffi- URATE AND GAY.
cient. The dog knows why that one blow was given, his WIDOW Jones' husband died far away from home, and it
took so long for his remains to reach her that the relict had
fault is fresh on his mind, and the smart of punishment in
close approximation; but if you strike the dog again, pain quite recovered from her grief, and was giving a large lunch-
and terror obliterate the reason why, and instead of being party when the body finally arrived. A wagon drove up to
sorry for his ill-conduct, and ashamed of it, the dog is not the door, and a large box was handed out. Curiosity ran
unlikely to requite the blow with a bite, and an unseemly high among the ladies at the window, and with one accord
and mischievous conflict may be the consequence. they exclaimed : "Why, Mrs. Jones, what can that bet"
"Retrievers" should never be used with setters and Dp went Mrs. Jones' eye-glasses, and, after a glance, she
pointers when the ground is open on which the game falls, coolly said, " Well, it must be old Jones come home. Char-
for it is and ought to be the reward of those dogs who bad lie, run down and open the door for your father 1"
found the game for the gun to go up to its fall when told to THE editor of the Troy Press is clearly a bachelor. A lady
do so, and if winged to trace and catch the running birds, with a baby in her arms got up to leave a street car, and the
of whatsoever feather, to their hiding place. Press man saw something white become dislodged from tha
The minds of the canine race are much more susceptible lady's lap and fall to the floor. He might have known that
and prone to impressions of varied sorts than vulgar men it was one of those thingumys, ' ' he didn't. He grabbed
give them credit for. it, shrieked to the young mother t. at she had lost her hand-
In former days, when shooting in the New Forest, parts kerchief, and then, discovering that it was a thingumy, and
of it a very rough and wooded site, to my two old favorite not a handkerchief, he dropped it on the floor, and left the
Irish setters, Chance and Quail, accompanied by the re- conductor to carry it to its owner. Just like an old bachelor.
triever Brutus, I used to see some beautiful specimens of re- A N amusing case was tried in a Kansas City (Mo.) court the
strained, but proud feelings in the expressive eyes of the
setters when they sat down on the report of the gun, and
watched Brutus go to pick up the pheasant or blackcock, or
whatever tho game might be. don't make him prove it." The case was proceeded with and
The fall of tho game might have been shut out by inter- Pat's guilt was established. Then, turning to the plaintiff,
vening cover, bur. the word to the retriever told the setters the Judge asked: "What was your dog worth, Dennis?"
that, whatsoever it was, though their noses had previously " Divil a tint was he worth, sure, yer honor; but be jab-
told them what it was, it was down, and while the muzzle bers, sure, I'm going to make him pay the full value of the
loader was being charged, the setters sat watching for the baste."
retriever to bring the game to bag. Brutus very seldom
missed finding anything that was down, unless the winged ADVERTISE if you want anything. A Southern paper
and running game had gone on among other game not yet tells how a family in Florida lost their little boy, and adver-
flushed. But in that case, rather than flush fresh game out tised for him in a daily paper. That very afternoon an alli-
of shot, Brutus would shut up and return to heel. On such gator crawled up out of the swamp and died on the front
occasions as these it was perfectly beautiful to see the set- door step. In his stomach was found a handful of red hair,
ters turn their bright eyes on me, expectant of the jcyful some bone buttons, a pair of boot heels, a glass alley, a
sign to go and do what the retriever had failed to accom- pair of check pants, and a paper collar. The advertisement
plish. Their proud method of going to do this, to them, de did it.
lightful deed, and when they had found the game and come" A FEW days since a seedy person applied to a wealthy
back on either side, Brutus, who had the game in his mouth, citizen for help, and received the small sum of five cents.
which of course he always took undisputed possession of, The giver remarked as he handed him the pittance : " Take
was one of the most interesting and pretty contingents of it, you are welcome, as our ears are always open to the dis-
sylvan life. tressed." " That may be," replied the recipient, " but never
In former years there were dog breakers who made it their before in my life have I seen so small an opening for such
profession, and occasionally trustworthy keepers, who were large ears."
permitted to break a dog or two for their master's friendb , AT a Sunday-school concert the other evening the follow-
but in these days I doubt if England holds a dog breaker. ing occurred : Little fellow (reciting his verse)— *• I am the
Scotland does, because on the moors it is absolutely neces- Bread of Life." Superintendent (questioning him as to his
sary to shoot to setters and pointers, while in the tamer knowledge of tbe Bible)—Who said " I am the Bread of
stubbles men prefer the hideous and uninteresting monoto- Life?" Little fellow (in surprise)—I said it.
nous method of tramping up the game in line, no other dog
out but things held by keepers in a leash called retrievers, A GALLANT wag who was sitting beside his beloved, and
but who realiy bring to hand nothing more than any man being unable to think of anything to say, asked her why she
himself could pick up. was like a tailor ? "I don't know," said she, with a pouting
lip, " unless it is because I am sitting beside a goose."
In breaking dogs it is curious to observe the different
treatment which different natures require, and also that if in " W H A T do you sell those fowls for?" inquired a buyer,
acontinuous line you breed from thoroughly well-broken and "1 sell them for profits," was the answer. " Thank you for
steady dogs, how closely you approach the fact of a dog born the information that they are prophets," responded tbe
to a knowledge of what he has to do, and from the litter querist; " I took them to be patriarchs."
naturally inclined to be careful, to be obedient, and to use " You are a nuisance—I'll commit you." said an offended
his nose. judge to a noisy person in court. "You have no right to
As i have elsewhere observed, with hounds you may, by commit a nuisance," 3aid the offender.
injudicious breeding, entail on a certain line of blood the
faults you mostly condemn. Precisely in the same manner a yonnpr " I AM afraid you will come to want," said an old lady to
wilh setters and pointers, you may establish in the race so the reply.gentleman " I want
"I ha^o come to •R-Aiii already," was
your daughter."
much perfection that the Bervice of a "breaker" is not re-
quired. JENKINS says his wife is a hard person to please. He
I have lately r e i v e d a letter from an officer in the United dampersooted
never
in the
her but once, and that was when he shut the
kitchen chimney.
States Army, who asks me to obtain him a setter of tho best
blood, and broken to be shot over. But if the owner of a IT has been discovered that bread can be made out cf
young and broken dog does not thoroughlv know how to wood. Long before this discovery was made, all wood was
keep the dog to his breaking, the monej he" would have to known to have «i grain in it.
pay for the setter would be put money thrown a«ay, and W R are told that "the smnllest hair throws a shadow."
the purchaser gain a loss. Nothing would jleage me more And so it does. It throws a shadow over your appetite when
than complying with a wish so expressed bv an officer of the ' yon find it in your victuals.
American Army, if only to show my gratitude for the kind-
ness and good-fellowship shown me bv mv late very dear a dying " AH, parson, i wish I could take my gold with ine," said
man to his pastor. " It might melt," was the con-
and gallant friends, General Bayard and his brother-officers soling answer.
Untitled Document
Thomas M. Tryniski
309 South 4th Street
Fulton New York
13069
www.fultonhistory.com